


How Do You Like Them Apples?

by Hysteric_for_Sterek (Princess_Rachy)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: College Student Stiles, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Near Future, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Pre-Slash, what should have happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-06
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-09 18:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11110650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Rachy/pseuds/Hysteric_for_Sterek
Summary: Stiles bursts into Derek's loft with news and a master plan.OrWhat should have happened when it was time for the kids to head off for college.





	How Do You Like Them Apples?

Sure, Derek heard the familiar sounds of Stiles’ Jeep pull up outside his building and the steady, but slightly-too-fast beating of Stiles’ heart getting louder and louder the closer the elevator got to arriving at his floor, so it wasn’t really a surprise when Stiles came bursting into his apartment moments later. But what _was_ a surprise, was the words that came spilling out of Stiles’ mouth as soon as he entered and laid eyes on Derek, where he was perched at his kitchen counter with a book in front of him.

“I got in! I got into NYU, Derek!” Stiles exclaimed excitedly, and then, with a look of determination set into his features, he added “and you’re coming with me!”

Derek’s whole body kind of… spasmed a little. The book he had open on the counter top fell shut when his fingers involuntarily twitched out of the way. He recovered fairly quickly, but not fast enough that Stiles didn’t notice.

“It wasn’t a question dude,” Stiles continued as though Derek had protested. “I know you only had 2 years to go when you followed Laura back here and I know they kept a spot open for you for next year. And you’re going to go back and finish your degree and you can show me around campus and we can get an apartment together and it’ll be awesome.”

Stiles grinned at him, tried to look eager but relaxed about what he was saying, but Derek could practically see the anxiety buzzing through him and sense his trepidation. Derek meant to say a firm ‘no’, if for no other reason than because Stiles was telling him what to do and Derek resented that, but instead what came out was “How do you know I was at NYU?”

Stiles gave him an unimpressed look. “I’m more than a little offended that you don’t instantly recognize my superior detective skills at this point.”

“I didn’t ask them to hold my place. I can’t just go back to classes like I never left, Stiles,” Derek continued quickly.

“Yes you did. Well, as far as _they’re_ concerned you did. You formally requested an extended leave of absence months ago and they accepted your request to resume classes with the new admissions next year,” Stiles’ face was twisted in smug satisfaction, even with the undercurrent of anxiety still running through him, as though he simply couldn’t help himself.

Derek sighed because he’d done no such thing.

“I don’t even know why I’m surprised,” he murmured.

“Me either. You should know me well enough by now, dude. I made sure you were re-enrolled as soon as I sent my application in. Also, your signature wasn’t even a slight challenge, dude. After forging Dad’s monstrosity of an autograph on all my detention slips and grade reports through the years, yours was a piece of cake. You should probably work on that.”

Derek rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ignore the slow spread of warmth he felt in his chest. Stiles wanted Derek to come to New York with him. Stiles cared enough about Derek to organize this. Stiles just… _Stiles_.

“Stiles. I can’t just leave,” he tried, somewhat meekly.

“Uh…” Stiles seemed to sense that Derek was already waning and that he was winning this discussion. Stiles dropped his bag on the floor by the entrance and hopped up on the stool across from Derek’s. “Yes you can. You, like, literally have no viable reasons for _not_ leaving.”

Derek frowned and Stiles continued his tirade as if sensing Derek was about to list a whole bunch of reasons he couldn’t leave. (Which he really wasn’t - _couldn’t_ even if he wanted to.)

“Scott’s an Alpha now, and he’s got Beacon Hills covered. He’s going to school locally so he’ll still be here, plus Liam, Mason, Hayden and Malia will all be here too. So no need to worry about the pack dynamics now that your eyes don’t glow red anymore. I know the lease on this loft is up for renewal next month anyway and it’s not like you have a job to worry about. Beacon Hills itself is full of bad mojo and it’ll do you good to get away from here. We could drive over in the Camaro if you wanted? I don’t think Roscoe would make it anyway. I mean, it’s not like you had any other plans for next year…” Stiles suddenly looked up, startled. “ _Did you_?”

Stiles looked suddenly worried, as if this was the first time he had considered that Derek may have made plans for next year that _didn’t_ include tagging along with him to college.

He hadn’t.

“No, not exactly,” Derek admitted. Stiles sat up straighter again and went back to grinning around taking a big bite from an apple he’d nabbed from the bowl on Derek’s counter.

“See? Perfect plan! Plus, there’s the obvious benefit of not having to miss me when I move to the other side of the country. I mean, what would you do without me?” he smirked.

“I’d probably get to eat a lot more of my own food that I buy,” Derek grumbled half-heartedly. Stiles just winked at him.

“This apple is situation-appropriate, Derek. And I’ll make sure to pitch in for the grocery shopping when we’re sharing a place. Do you have any prerequisites for our apartment? I’ll start looking for one close to campus. Ooo! Maybe we should join a fraternity! Alpha, Beta or Omega in the title, obviously.”

“Stiles.”

“No you’re right, frat house for a werewolf – bad idea. We’ll have to find something close by, but as secluded as possible. Quiet for your delicate wolfy ears. No noisy neighbors.”

“Stiles.”

“Maybe we could-“

“ _Stiles!”_

_“_ Hmm? _”_

“I already have an apartment in New York.”

“You- What?”

“It was Peter’s. Laura got it signed over into our names when he was… after the fire.”

“Oh. So, like, it’s just sitting over there all empty?”

“Yeah, I- yeah.”

There was an awkward pause. Derek was thinking about how hard it was going to be to walk into that place and be hit by Laura’s scent and her things and the memories. Laura had left the place expecting to return within a few days and Derek had picked up and followed after her as soon as she stopped answering her calls 3 days later. The place would still be exactly how they’d left it, like a time-capsule waiting to teleport him back to the last time Derek had felt any real sense of home and family.

Stiles was watching him intently and chewing on his lip. And then suddenly Stiles was off his stool and his arms were wrapping around Derek’s back tightly, his chin resting on Derek’s shoulder.

“This is going to be great, Derek. You’ll see. We’re going to go to college and get away from all of this and it’s going to be great,” Stiles mumbled over his shoulder as he gripped Derek tightly.

Derek swallowed past the lump in his throat and thought back to an unnervingly similar conversation and hug with Laura so many years ago. ‘ _We’re going to get through this, Der. Me and you. New York. A fresh start. I’m so proud of you._ ’ Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles and returned the squeeze.

“So, that’s a yes, right? You’ll come with me?” Stiles asked, pulling back to look at Derek, but leaving his hands on the older man’s shoulders.

“On several conditions,” Derek answered.

“I’m listening,” Stiles countered as he made his way back to his stool and resumed munching on his apple in delight.

“One, you’re not driving the Camaro.” Stiles pouted. “Two, no making fun of anything you find in the apartment.”

“What am I going to find in the apartment?” Stiles asked eagerly, face lighting up.

“Three,” Derek continued as if Stiles hadn’t spoken while his brain began cataloguing all the things he’d left behind in New York – his guitar; a small stuffed wolf that his mother had given him when he was a child that had survived the fire because it had lived in his locker at school to stop Cora from trying to steal it all the time; his camera and multiple full albums of photos he’d taken to try to make up for all of his childhood photos being lost in the fire; his eclectic record collection and even more eclectic book collection; the cupboard full of board games that he and Laura had played every Friday night; his friends he’d left behind. “You promise not to continue trying to learn this magic stuff without Deaton there to teach you. You’ll just have to put it on hold until semester breaks or something. No magical mumbo-jumbo in the apartment.”

“Oh c’mon man, are these conditions really necessary? I’m great at magic! And I can teach myself. I’ll bet the campus libraries will even have some useful books-”

“You agree to the conditions or I’m not going with you,” Derek bluffed. Let’s face it, by this point he was well and truly sold and committed to this idea. He hadn’t realized how much he was craving returning to New York until he’d started thinking about everything he’d left there.

“Fine,” Stiles huffed. “Any more conditions, or is that it?”

“Condition number four is that I reserve the right to add more conditions as I think of them.”

“Oh come on! How is that possibly fair? I can’t agree to that!” Derek just gave him ‘The Look’ and Stiles glared but threw his hands in the air, rolled his eyes and said “Fine! I agree to your stupid, unnecessary conditions. Because _I_ am confident that you won’t have to think up any more because you’re going to be too busy having fun and enjoying New York life and my excellent company.”

Derek snorted and reached for his book, flicking through trying to find the page he’d lost.

“So shall we extend the road trip past all the tourist hot-spots on the way? Howl in the Grand Canyon, visit your wolfy pals at Yellowstone, selfie with the World’s Largest Baseball Bat in Louisville? And we can wear matching ‘I heart NY’ shirts the whole way.”

“Condition number five, no ‘I heart NY’ _anything_.”

“Spoil-sport. Although I notice you didn’t object to the rest of the road trip ideas,” Stiles smirked as he got up and dumped his apple core in the trash before shouldering his bag. “This is gonna be so great. I’m gonna go home and plan our road trip of awesomeness.”

“Condition six,” Derek started, not even looking up from his book.

“Yeah, yeah, no having fun of any kind, I got it. Don’t be such a sourwolf, Der-bear! You’re not going to regret this.”

“I already am,” Derek replied, shooting Stiles a dry look where he stood in the doorway.

“Uh huh. I don’t need werewolf hearing to know when you’re lying. So I’m just going to take that as a ‘thank you Stiles’.”

Derek let out a huff of amusement as Stiles winked at him and opened the loft door. Derek should have been irritated by Stiles and his presumptuous meddling into his life, but he really wasn’t. Maybe because it reminded him of something Laura would have done. Or maybe because he’d long ago given up on trying to keep Stiles out from under his skin. Instead of being irritated, Derek’s entire body was thrumming with genuine happiness and excitement and the feeling was so foreign by this point that Derek wasn’t sure what to do with it. Part of him wanted to shift and run and let his wolf roll around the place with its tongue lolling out and tail wagging (which  _obviously_ he wasn’t going to do because that would be completely ridiculous). And it was all thanks to Stiles. This incredibly smart and brave and impossible kid who really wasn’t even a kid anymore and Derek really did owe his life to multiple times over. Stiles was the one immovable force in Derek’s life – the only one who kept coming back for Derek, the only one who was keeping him alive. And now he was giving him back his life again, helping him back onto the path he was meant to take, the path Laura had fought so hard to push him onto the first time around, but that he’d drifted from and lost sight of when he’d been left all alone without her.  

“Stiles?”

“Yeah?” Stiles paused in closing the door behind him, poking his head back inside.

“Thanks.”

Stiles grinned. “Big Apple, here we come!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come find me on [Tumblr](https://hysteric-for-sterek.tumblr.com) if you like :)


End file.
